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W. D. 80 S. PRIESTMAN. MEANS FOR FACILITATING THE STARTING AND REGULATING THE WORKING 0F HYDROGARBON ENGINES.

No. 430,038. PatentedJune 10, 1890.

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(No Model.) A 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 W. D. & S. PRIESTMAN. MEANS FOR FACILITATING THE STARTING AND REGULATING THE WORKING 0P HYDROGARBONENGINES. No. 430.038. Patented June 10, 1890.

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\VILLIAM DENT PRIESTMAN AND SAMUEL PRIESTMAN, OF HULL, COUNTY OF YORK, ENGLAND.

MEANS FOR FACILITATING THE STARTING AND REGULATING THE WORKING F HYDROCARBON-ENGINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 430,038, dated June 10, 1890. Application filed March 22, 1889. Serial No. 304,315. (No model.) Patented in England January 6, 1888, No. 270.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WVILLIAM DENT PRIESTMAN and SAMUEL PRIESTMAN, both subjects of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, of I'Iolderness Foundry, Hull, in the county of York, England, have invented certain Improvements in Hydrocarbon-Engines, (for which we have obtained Letters Patent in Great Britain, No. 270, dated January 6, 1888,) of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of engines which are operated by the explosion of charges of hydrocarbureted air, or the vapor of hydrocarbon mixed with air in proportion to form an explosion; and the object of the invention is to provide means for facilitating the starting of the engine and means for regulating the working of the same. According to the common practice in working motorengines with hydrocarbon vapor or carbureted hydrogen gas, it is usual to mix a volume of inflammable vapor or gas with about ten volumes of atmospheric air. When the working-charge so constituted is compressed before being fired, the resistance offered to the compressing-piston renders it difficult to turn the engine by hand. Vith a View to diminishing such resistance we furnish the inlet to the cylinder in which the charge is compressed with a throttle or stop valve adapted for manual adjustment, by means of which the volume of the vaporous or gaseous charge admitted to the cylinder may be temporarily reduced to the degree found most expedient. Under such circumstances the engine may be turned by hand with comparative facility, and a few small charges having been worked the throttle or stop valve before referred to may be fully opened for the admission of charges of normal character, the action of the engine being thenceforth controlled by the governor. Inasmuch as the volume of inflammable vapor or gas employed in working such engines bears only a small proportion to that of the atmospheric air with which such vapor or gas is mixed in the prep aration of the working-charge, we sometimes apply the before-mentioned throttle or stop valve to the passage through which the at- K0 mospheric air is admitted before being mixed with the inflammable vapor or gas. Under such circumstances the working-charge is both reduced in quantity and rendered richer in hydrocarbon, care being, however, taken that a suflicient proportion of airis admitted to insure ready ignition of the charge.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrative of our invention, Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation, and Fig. 2 is a sectional end elevation, of a hydrocarbureted-air engineembody- 6o ing this invention. These figures are drawn to a small scale and show only those parts that are necessary to illustrate our invention. Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional detail View of the throttle or stop valve. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are respectively an elevation, a longitudinal section, and a plan of the electrical appliances for timing the ignition of the charge. These are detail views drawn to a large scale.

The means employed for facilitating the starting of the engine will now be described with reference to Figs. 1, 2, and 3.

a is the motor-cylinder; b, the vapor-chamber connected therewith; c, the vaporizer or mixing apparatus which prepares the inflammable vapor; and d is the throttle or stop valve mounted in or applied to the inlet whereat the supplementary air-supply is admitted to the vapor-chamber b for admixture with the inflammable vapor. The throt- 8o tle or stop valve d may be operated from the exterior of the engine bed-plate by means of a spindle and handle (1, as indicated in Fig.

2. For the valve d we may employ the plug type of construction, as represented in Fig. 3 on an enlarged scale, although it will be obvious that other designs are applicable.

Before starting the engine the valve d is partially or whollyclosed and the direct supply of atmospheric air to the vapor-chamber 0 Z) throttled or entirely shut. oif. Air and liq uid hydrocarbon are, however, admitted from the liquid-hydrocarbon reservoir through the vaporizer or mixing-n ozzle to the Vap0r-chamher. The walls thereof, as also those of a por- 5 tion of the motor-cylinder, being comparat-ively cold, a portion of the vaporized liquid becomes condensed and deposited, particu larly when a heavy hydrocarbon distillatesuch as that commonly known as refined pe- Ioo troleum-oil-is employed. The temporary exclusion of the supplementary air-charge,

however, by means of the valve (7, has not only the effect of reducing the quantity of the vaporous or gaseous mixture admitted to the motor-cylinder while the engine is being turned by hand and the working-charge compressed, but serves at the same time to compensate for any condensation of the liquid fuel which may have taken place and which might otherwise render the charge too poor in hydrocarbon to ignite with the requisite readiness and certainty.

It should be understood that our valve (Z, which is adapted for manual operation, is not designed to replace the usual automatic nonreturn valve employed in this class of engines for admitting air to the vapor-chamber by the formation of a partial vacuum in the latter chamber. Such an automatic valve is illustrated in the United States Patent to Humes, No. 350,200, dated October 5, 1886. Our valve (1 may be employed in addition to the automatic non-return valve, the latter in that case being placed between the valve d and the vapor-chamber.

The means for re ulating the working of the engine, consisting of the appliances whereby the timing of the ignition of the inflammable charge may be varied and adjusted while the engine is running, will now be described with reference to *Figs. 4, 5, and 6. These views show an electric circuit making and breaking apparatus wherein two flexible or pivoted arms respectively connected with the circuit are periodically placed in electrical communication by a connector mounted on any suitable reciprocating part of the engine. In these views, 9 e are two slightly-flexible plates composed of copper or other conductive material mounted upon a body f of vulcanite or other non-conductive substance. The body f is provided with a socket g, from which projects a screwed shank g. The latter extends through the back of the fixed bracket h, wherein the socket g is mounted to slide longitudinally, and is furnished with a regulating-nut 9 whereby the socket g may be moved to and fro in the carrier h and the position of the plates 6 e varied.

is a lock-nut for securingthe parts when adjusted.

f f are studs to which the wires conveying the electric current are respectively attached.

Upon the air-p u mp rod 7', or some other eonveniently-situated reciprocating part of the engine, is mounted a finger 7;, composed of ebonite or other suitable non-conducting material and carrying a metal connector 7;, arranged in such a manner relatively to the extremities of the plates 6 e as to arrive in contact with and intermittingly to establish c0mmunication between the said plates, thereby completing the electric circuit.

lly operating the nut g the position of the plates 6 6 may be adjusted in a longitudinal direction, and the instant at which the electric circuit is completed relatively to the position of the crank and motor-piston may be varied while the engine is running. By these means the starting of the engine may be facilitated by so setting the apparatus as to cause the charge to be fired after the crank has passed the center, the moment of ignition being subsequently rendered earlier by suitably adjusting the apparatus while the engine is at work. According to an alternative mode of effecting the same object, we provide the circuit-connector with means wherebyits position upon the reciprocating part of the engine to which it is attached may bereadily adjusted, the same being capable of manipulation while the engine is running.

Although for convenience of description we have referred to this feature of our invention as applied to circuit making and breaking apparatus of a particular kind, it will be obvious that our improved means for timing the ignition of the charge, and thereby regulating the working of the engine, may be adapted for use with other descriptions of electrical apparatus employed with the same object.

Having thus described our invention, we claim 1. The herein-described method of facilitating the starting of motor-engines operated by the combustion of hydrocarbon vapor mixed with air or other gas capable of supporting combustion, such method consisting in temporarily reducing the vaporous charge below the normal and correspondingly enrichin g the working-charge, whereby excessive condensation of the liquid fuel is compensated for and ready ignition of the charge insured.

2. The herein-described method of operating hydroearbon-engines, which-consists in reducing the volume of the gaseous charge below the normal when the engine is started, and then when the engine is in motion admitting the full normal gaseous charge, thus diminishing the resistance to the compressing-piston and facilitating the startingofthe engine.

3. The l1erein-described device for making and breaking the igniting-circuit of the en gine, consisting of the fixed carrier-bracket 72 the regulating-nut mounted therein, the sliding socket g, mounted in said bracket and provided with a screw g, which screws through said regulating-nut, the non-conducting piece f, fixed in the socket g, the elastic plates 6 e, mounted on the piece f, the studs or binding-postsf" f, connected with the respective plates e e, and the finger 7a, of noneonducting material, mounted on a moving part of the engine and provided with a metallic connector 7.3, adapted to enter between the plates 6 and close the igniting-circuit, substantially as set forth.

XVILLIAM DENT PRIESTMAN. SAML. PRIESTMAN. Witnesses: WILLIAM HUGH OWENS, GEORGE HENRY \VALDRON. 

